Villa Squad and Results 2004/05
03/04 Season Squad and Match Reviews
02/03 Season Squad and Match Reviews
01/02 Season Squad and Match Reviews
00/01 Season Squad and Match Reviews
99/00 Season Squad and Match Reviews
see all the managers our beloved chairman Doug Ellis has disposed of
Last updated 25-Jun-2005
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14th May It was announced that Dion Dublin and Ronnnie Johnsen would be released at the end of their contracts at the end of June.
20 June Hassan Kachloul also released at the end of his contract.
9 July Incredibly, Southampton agree to pay £2million for very nice but hapless beanpole Peter Crouch. Thank heavens that's over.
20 July Wolves agree a 150k fee for defender Rob Edwards.
27 August Marcus Allback joins German side Hansa Rostock, no fee was involved. Another mystery of a good striker virtually unused at Villa.
In
13 May, Ollie signs new 4 year deal. 9 June. Gareth Barry signs new 4 year deal
21 May 26 year old Danish international central defender Martin Laursen joins from AC Milan for £3million.
16 July JPA signs new 4 year deal, reports vary about how much he'll be earning - but we can be sure the once talked about £15k wage cap has been put to bed.
12 July Carlton Cole joins from Chelsea on a season loan. The 20 year old once thought to be a big future England potential spent last season on loan at Charlton. Test will be how well O'Leary can work him into the player he should be.
2 Aug 23 year old Czech International Defender Vaclav Drobny on a season load from Strasbourg. There's believed to be a fee agreed if we wish to sign him permanantly after the loan.
7 Aug 24 year old midfielder Mathieu Berson signs on a 4 year deal after a long struggle to prise him away from Nantes. £1.7million.
Squad Numbers
G=Goalie D=Defender M=Midfield A=Attack
1 Sorensen(G) 2 Delaney(D) 3 Samuel(D) 4 Mellberg(D)5 Laursen(D)
6 Barry(M) 7 Hendrie(M) 8 McCann(M) 9 Angel(A) 10 Vassell(A)
11 Solano(D) 12 Hitzlsperger(M) 13 Postma(G)
15 de la Cruz(M) 16 Berson(M) 17 Whittingham(A) 18 Cole(A)
19 Ridgewell(D) 20 Drobny(D) 24 Davis 22 L Moore 26 S.Moore(A)
25 Henderson
Fixtures/Stats/ Match Reviews (KO 3pm except where stated)
Sat Aug 142004 Villa 2 - 0 Southampton. A good start to the season with Vassell (12) and Cole (34) getting the first half goals that sealed the match. A good display in most departments against a Southampton side choosing not to field hapless beanpole idiot Peter Crouch, and who can blame them.
Sun Aug 22 Baggies 1 - 1 Villa. After just three minutes a lovely swinging free kick from Tommy was met by Olof who headed home. Later in the half a similar move ended in the ball appearing to cross the line, but not given by ref Mark Halsey. Villa should have controlled the game after this, but inexplicably resorted to a totally inneffetive long ball game for the rest of the game. Inevitably Brom got the equalizer after a foul was wrongly given against Laursen - who did look pretty dodgy throughout this game, though. Brom finnished much the stronger and in the end the final whistle was a relief.
Tue Aug 24 Charlton 3 -0 Villa Fortunately I was on holiday and missed this completely, but I gather Villa did enjoy some good spells and Charlton were flattered by the score. If anyone knows more, drop me a line.
Sat Aug 28 Villa 4 -2 Newcastle. Using the same Hitz/Ollie move as in the last game, Villa took a 4 minute lead, but it wasn't looking so clever at half time with the barcodes leading 2-1. Is it true you can score to early in a game? The big talk before the game was Shearer being dropped in favour of Klievert, this turned out to be Bobby Robsons last game in charge because of that, and Villa reeling them in with three second half goals from Cole, Barry and the fortunate deflections of Angels shot. I have to say, I felt Villa were fortunate to end on this scoreline.
Sat Sep 11 Villa 0 - 0 Chelsea. Villa started pretty well against this Abromovich mega funded Chelski side. In fact through the first half, we stayed right on the pace. Chelski started the second half strongly and I was getting worried until big money squad rotation came to our aid. With more money sitting on the bench than in our whole squad, they were forced into substitutions to give some more of them a turn and it broke their rythm. Villa came back into it and the game stayed pretty even. Ulises made a silly tackle on Drogba in the box beyond 90 minutes, but a generous ref waved it away and book the frenchman for diving. A lot of people seem impressed with McCann at the moment, but I can't see it. I was counting the number of times he touched the ball, and I didn't need all of my fingers and toes, so I was shocked in the second half when Hendrie came on and it was Solano who trotted off. I'll be watching the space, keep counting everyone.
Sat Sep 18 Norwich 0 - 0 Villa. Villa staying in the top half of the table, but not by much and this kind of result is the reason why. Promoted Norwich threatened little but managed to contain all the chances Villa made, which was a respectable number. As is becoming the norm, David O'Leary brought on the youngsters at the end, with Whittingham coming on and a debut for Steven Davies, who had a highly creditable shot at goal. Earlier in the week DO'L was publicly saying that without big investment, Villa have reached the peak of their achievment. Presumably the only other route being if we happen to find a couple of Thierry Henry's hiding in our youth team.
Sat Sep 25 Villa 1 - 1 Palace. Certainly a very dissapointing result since Palace had only 1 point up to now and this should have been a banker for us. Villa were lacklustre and seemed to lack any real interest in winning the game. Palace went ahead early and Villa came level just before half time with a great Hendrie volley from range. The popular opinion of the moment is that Villa lack the squad to have the first team under any pressure to perform in order to hold their places down. That shows how little commitment we get for our money - back in '81 we won the championship with a team that was virtually the same every week.
Sat Oct 02 Blackburn 2 - 2 Villa. Pundits were saying a draw was a fair result, but I thought Villa had the better of the chances. We opened the scoring with a great strike from JPA following excellent work from Ulises. Blackburn levelled before half time and took the lead somewhere around an hour, before Olof bagged one from Hitz's corner (with his foot!). This makes Olof and JPA our joint leading scorers on 3 apiece. Come on Juan, the defenders are keeping up with you.
Sat Oct 16 Arsenal 3 - 1 Villa. Villa got us all going with a 3rd
minute strike from Lee (two matches on the run Lee, good work) giving
Villa the lead over 48-game-unbeaten arsenal. But for much of the game
it was men against boys, with Arsenal recording 65% possession and
beating us 17 shots to 2. They were two to one up just before half
time, and the end result was pretty clear from there on.
Sat Oct 23 Villa 2 -0 Fulham. Villa kicking off from the bottom half
of the table for the first time this term, so a win was essential. A
first half free kick from Nobby opened the scoring nicely, before Lee
made it 3 games in a row with another long range strike. Nice one son.
Not a vintage all round performance, but a relief to get the points.
Darius was carried off in this game with what proved to be a broken
ankle, so we'll be down to just two senior strikers until well into the
new year - and that's if Chelsea don't recall Cole in January, which is
rumoured.
Sat Oct 30 Eveton 1 - 1 Villa. He did it again! 4 in a row for Lee!
Another 20 yard curler that's sure to be in goal of the month comp.
Unfortunately, Lee's goals are the only good thing about the Villa at
the moment. A truly terrible display in midweek saw us go down 3-1 to
Burnley in the league cup, and we just held on today to high-flying
Everton (that just doesn't sound right, does it? But they're 4th at the
moment, behind Arsenal Chelsea and Bolton - eh? Bolton. Yeah, read this
back in 5 years it'll seem impossible).
Sat Nov 06 Villa 3 - 0 Pompey. Villa's best of the season was on
show as they bossed the first half and took a three nil lead thanks to
goals from Peter Whittingham (his first senior goal, a tap in - but we
all have to start somewhere), JPA and Nobby. The second half was much
quieter, and while it would have been nice to see some more goals,
can't complain at this result. Villa squeeze up to sixth, opening up a
healthy 3 goal diff gap over ManUre.
Sat Nov 13 Bolton 1 - 2 Villa . Bolton took a 20th minute lead
in a scrappy first half in which their long ball into the box strategy
paid off only once. Although its a bit rich complaining about that
because Sorenson continues to hoof the ball whenever he gets it - he
doesn't seem to know there's a team in front of him who can play it on
the ground. Bolton's number 11, whoever he is, was lucky to avoid a
second yellow, but Bolton did enjoy the rub of the ref today. Gav
scored a late first half equalizer, which was a real relief coz I
travelled to the game with a couple of Bolton fans. Bolton continued
with their one and only strategy in the second half, and it nearly paid
off for them as Diouf hit the bar. Villa were more controlled in the
second and put together two decent spells, the latter one resulting in
a last minute super strike from sub Der Hammer - nice one Tommy.
Mon Nov 22 Villa 1 - 0 Spurs 8pm. Villa moved up to 5th with their
3rd consecutive win against a Spurs side who slumped to their 6th
consecutive defeat. There was nothing much to shout about in the first
half, except that Spurs won the toss and made us attack the Holte in
the first half. Villa didn't start the second half so brightly either,
until a Hitz corner was met by Nobby who lobbed it up and hit it on the
turn. Spurs slumped dramatically, Villa came to life and a host of
chances were missed from there on. The game also saw an excellent full
debut from 19 year old Steven Davies who stood in for the suspended
Hendrie. He played in a forward midfield role and worked the ball well
and with confidence. Lets hope there's more to come.
Sat Nov 27 Man City 2 - 0 Villa. Too much to hope for 4 wins on the
bounce I guess, and Villa didn't offer very much today against a
confident City side. JPA had a penalty saved near the end, and failed
to nod in the rebound that came right back to him. He's just not on it
at the moment. Then Lee get sent off for nodding his head towards [I
forget who] but I guess it looked like a but from the ref's angle
behind Lee. Fair chance it'll get rescinded.
Sat Dec 04 Villa 1 - 1 Liverpool. Villa fortunate to get a point
today, with Liverpool far more effective and generating a lot more
shots than us. They opened the scoring through sole striker Harry
Kewell, with Villa equalising from Nobby's free kick just before half
time. Villa played a little better in the second, with another good
showing from young Stephen Davies in the absence of Lee Hendrie (who's
red didn't get rescinded). Liverpool's packed midfield policy held us
at bay fairly easily - and with 20 minutes left they took off their one
striker and dropped to a formation that seemed to be 4-6-0.
Sun Dec 12 Villa 1 - 2 Brum A terrible first half display and an
appalling blunder by Sorensen (who fumbled a shot that was little more
than a back pass) saw Villa two nil down at half time, against a Blooz
side who once again showed much more passion for the derby match. A
better second half display and injury time consolation from Gareth
Barry did nothing to quell the dissapointment - mainly at failing to
secure any points.
Sat Dec 18 Boro 3 - 0 Villa. A really dissapointing result,
considering the next two games, that leaves Villa 8th. We can count
ourselves unlucky in some way, having beaten Boro 14 shots to 9, and
yet contrived to come away with this result. Shots hitting bar and
post, cleared off the line, scuffed wide when sure to score (JPA) were
the story of our day. Still, you can't win a game without putting away
chances, and Boro where the ones who did that. Sorensen was poor again,
and I don't think DO'L would still be picking him ahead of Postma but
for the fact its his own signing. Peter Whitts was terrible, but on the
plus side Gareth is coming back into some useful form and Steven Davies
continues to be a revelation. Carlton Cole is not living up to his
early season promise and is currently putting in one poor performance
after another - but with DV injured for some time to come, our options
are so very limited. If we'd kept Marcus, he'd be on the field now.
Sun Dec 26 Chelsea1 - 0 Villa 1pm. Not a game Villa were likely to
win, with Chelsea's all stars topping the table, and lately knocking in
4 a game. So Villa can be fairly happy with a decent holding display,
and encouraged by a highly competant first full outing by Mathieu
Berson.
Tue Dec 28 Villa 0 - 1 Man U 8pm. A first half goal from Giggs
enough to win this for ManUre but at least its the last game in this
tough run. Villa gave a fairly good defensive display and even got a
few chances together in the second half. The squad is down to the bones
though, with several players under 21 making up the numbers -
ridgewell, whittingham, both cookes and davies. We're all waiting to
see if Doug will let DO'L sign anyone in the January window, or just
pretend to as usual.
Sat Jan 01 2005 Villa 1 - 0 Blackburn. Villa started brightly but
went off the boil for large parts of the first half. Produced a better
second (again) with Nobby being man of the match and giving us the 87th
minute winner which at least lifts us back in to the top half of the
table (9th).
Mon Jan 03 Palace 2 - 0 Villa. Terribly dissapointing to Villa
go down to a bottom three side, Palace won it with cup-like
determination and met hardly any resistance. O'Leary is going to have
to fire the players up more than this.
Sat Jan 15 Villa 3 - 0 Norwich. A good performance from Villa, all
the better for the fact that it follows such a poor run and is
surrounded by the stress of whether we will actually sign some badly
needed players in the January window, or if Doug is just miming again.
An early goal from Liam Ridgewell followed by a fine finish from Lee
Hendrie saw us 2-0 up in 25 minutes. A third in the second half came
from Nobby following a cross-or-was-it-a-shot from Lee. Angel played
well although his drought continued, Vassell should be available again
soon after his broken ankle, and he's sure to give us more than the
lacklustre Carlton Cole. Berson played well, in for the longish term
injured McCann. Berson is starting to look pretty useful and his pass
completion is so much better than Gav's. Villa are 10th.
Sat Jan 22 Man U 3 - 1 Villa. United led 1 - 0 at half time from
Ronaldo's eigth minute opener. Villa pulled back to 1 - 1 early in the
second after Gareth Barry knocked in a nice shot. Villa were playing
OK, but it all went to pieces as Utd hit two in two minutes to put the
game beyond us. Good chances from Nobby, Hitz and JPA served to show we
were able to hold our own rather better than the score suggests.
Wed Feb 02 Fulham Vs Villa 7:45 pm. Good news after 15 minutes when
JPA scored his first goal in (about) 22 years, only to follow it up
with two penalty misses. We thougth we'd got away with it since Andy
Cole missed one for Fulham as well, only for them to pop in an injury
time equaliser. A bizzare game.
Sat Feb 05 Villa 1 - 3 Arsenal. The Arsenal may be a bit wobbly at
the moment, but not nearly wobbly enough to be troubled by Villa today.
Three up in half an hour and we really struggled to find anything to
sing about.
Sat Feb 12 Pompey 1 - 2 Villa. Villa's first away win for some time,
coming with a late Hammer wonder goal as did the last away win at
Bolton. Villa went ahead courtesy of an own goal - although turned in
following good work from Luke More and Lil' Lee. Pompey equalised from
the spot after our old friend Steve Stone was fouled by Gareth. Pompey
deserve to be dissapointed because although Villa created a number of
decent chances, Pompey did control the midfield for much of the game.
Sat Feb 26 Villa 1 - 3 Everton. This result represents the lowest
ebbs in my support of Villa for a long time. Everton, a team who we can
normally rely on beating, are doing well holding down 4th spot in the
league although I do feel they are flattered by this position.
Nevertheless, they ran us ragged today - as much due to the poor Villa
performance, the one high spot being Nobby's equalizer. Although we
have some players who are relatively capable, we do seem to be running
on empty and need some substantial investment to keep up with this
league.
Sat Mar 05 Villa 2 - 0 Boro. Martin Laursen and Luke Moore both
scored their first Villa goals in the second half to give us a good
win. Berson played in midfield and is really starting to show his
worth. Boro had spells for sure, but a good all around Villa
performance is the sort of thing we'd like to see more of.
Sat Mar 19 Brum 2 - 0 Villa. Two second half goals gave Brum yet
another second city win, and once again our goalie had so much to do
with it - the first goal being a dreadful fumble from Sorensen.
Sat Apr 02 Newcastle 0 - 3 Villa. A fourth minute opener from JPA
and two second well taken half penalties from Gareth Barry gave us this
welcome and excellent win. But that wasn't all! Newcastle were unlucky
not to get the own first half pen when JLloyd clearly handled Shearer's
shot. On 82 mins, with Newcastle already down to 10 men, Dyer and
Bowyer had themselves a fist fight and both got send off dropping
Newcastle to just 8 men on the field. Tragically Villa failed to take
this opportunity to pop in a couple more.
Sat Apr 09 Villa 1 - 1 Baggies. A good first half from Villa with
Darius scoing his first goal since coming back from the ankle break.
But Villa didn't make their control count and half time was just
one nil. As you might expect, the baggies came out with much more
second half resolve. A squaring up between Laim Ridgewell and Johnathan
Greening led to both being sent off, not what we need as our defender
shortage is added to (Mellberg still with the knee injury). We thought
we'd hung on but a last kick equaliser brought it all square. Villa are
10th.
Sat Apr 16 Southampton 2 - 3 Villa. At half time it was all looking
so very bad, villa two nil down and Peter Crouch had scored one of the
goals. But Southampton are staring relegation in the face and their
confidence is poor even when two nil up. Carlton Cole got one back and
Villa were looking the more likely to make more progress, that's just
what happened as Nobby got a second. Villa's win was complete when
Steven Davies made it 3 - 2. None of Villa's goals were great looking
efforts, but ...hey!
Wed Apr 20 Villa 0 - 0 Charlton 7:45pm
Sat Apr 23 Villa 1 - 1 Bolton
Sat Apr 30 Spurs 5 - 1 Villa
Sat May 07 Villa 1 - 2 Man City
Sat May 14 Liverpool 2 - 1 Villa